AACOM, in cooperation with the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) and the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME), recently compiled and released The Osteopathic GME Match Report, 2009 to support osteopathic medical students in their specialty selection and participation in the OGME match program. The report may also provide useful data for colleges of osteopathic medicine, osteopathic graduate medical education programs and others interested in osteopathic medical education’s programs, policies and processes related to graduate medical education and specialty choice. The report was posted on October 24, and as of November 4, more than 2,000 individuals had downloaded it, with others receiving copies that were forwarded to them or re-posted.

The new report was produced in response to a request from AACOM’s Council of Osteopathic Student Government Presidents (COSGP) for a resource that would help guide students in their specialty selection and matching process for the osteopathic graduate medical education match.

The principal author is AACOM Vice President for Research and Application Services Thomas Levitan, MEd. Data included in the report were provided by the AOA and the NBOME. Terri Lischka of AOA and William Roberts, EdD, of NBOME compiled the data from their respective organizations. To download the report, visit here. Note that visitors will need to complete a sign-in sheet to download the report.

The below table is part of the OGME Match Report, giving data on characteristics of match participants who are successful and unsuccessful.

Match measure

1st choice matches

Other matches*

Did not match

Number of participants

1355

75

353

Mean number of contiguous 1st choice designations

3.01

1.72

2.83

Percent designating multiple specialties, but 1st choice only once before designating a different specialty